The Loves of Carmen

Rita Hayworth reached back to her portrayal of Dona Sol in Blood and Sand and even further back to her Spanish heritage for a riveting performance as Carmen, the fiery and seductive gypsy created by Prosper Merimee and immortalized by Bizet in his opera.

The Loves of Carmen is Rita's co-production with Columbia Pictures and this would be her last film for several years as right after this film came out, she married Aly Khan. She became a Princess and lived one wild jet setting life. She was queen of the tabloids back then.

Carmen as done by Hayworth is beautiful, fascinating, and frightening. Scary in the way she just uses, abuses, and discards the male of the species. It's the perfect Rita Hayworth role for those demanding to see in my opinion the greatest sex goddess the cinema ever produced.

The reason that The Loves of Carmen is not a classic is the horrible miscasting of Glenn Ford as Don Jose. Try as he might Glenn Ford comes off about as Latin as Curt Jurgens. Ford had the same problem when he was cast in Rudolph Valentino's role in the remake of The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Tyrone Power worked well opposite Rita in Blood and Sand, but he was at the wrong studio. And it would have to have been the pre World War II Power. Someone like Farley Granger who could have suggested a callow youth might have been better.

Rita cast Ford in the part, partly for reasons of friendship, partly because it cost nothing extra because Glenn was under contract to Columbia as she was, and partly due to the big box office they became because of Gilda two years earlier. When Rita did return to the screen after her marriage to Aly Khan was over, Ford appeared opposite her in Affair in Trinidad which was far better suited to his image.

I won't go into the plot because the Bizet Opera and the musical Carmen Jones has made it all so familiar. Let's just say that between Hayworth's amorality and Ford's hormones it ends in tragedy for both.

The rest of the cast does just fine. Note the good performances of Arnold Moss as Ford's commanding officer, Victor Jory as the gypsy bandit leader, Margaret Wycherly as the old gypsy woman who foretells the future for all. Most of all Luther Adler who is a cynical observer of all around him from Jory's band of thieves.

But as in another Columbia classic, The Loves of Carmen could have been a contender.

It may be Composer-Screenwriter-Author Helen Deutsh was too captivated by studying the work of "Carmen" librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy.

Back in 1873 this leading team penned a text for Georges Bizet's opera, "Carmen" that would support an ultimately legendary work. But times have changed.

Without Bizet's intoxicating score, this tale (from an 1845 novella by Prosper Merimee) now plays like something freshly removed from mothballs: stiled dialogue, cardboard characters and benign dramaturgy make for quite tepid viewing.

True, it's a great role for Rita, but she must utter quite cliched lines, while posturing with "Carmen mannerisms" with no real heart or soul. Mr. Ford also looks most uncomfortable as the naive novice soldier, and behaves as though he's stuck with some stagnant contractual obligation at Columbia Pictures.

Only when Ms. Hayworth is given an opportunity to dance does she truly come to life. Here she can really show off her vitality and the fruits of her long-term choreographic labours.

So, we have here Bizet's opera without Bizet's music.

The production design and costuming are most colorful as everyone struggles valiantly to breathe life into the proceedings.

Deutsch probably should have glanced at the libretto and novella, then gone on to write an original script--which should was capable of doing, based on her record of a half dozen successful musical and dramatic screenplays she penned over the years.

The recently released DVD on Columbia Classics should bring pleasure to film buffs in general and fans of Hayworth (and Ford) in particular.

When the naive and honored soldier Don José Lizarabengoa (Glenn Ford) meets the promiscuous gypsy Carmen (Rita Hayworth), he is bewitched by her beauty in the beginning of his downfall. Don José becomes his lover disobeying superior orders and when his colonel surprises him with Carmen, he accidentally kills him becoming an outlaw. His doomed love leads Don José and Carmen to a tragic end.

"Carmen", a.k.a. "The Loves of Carmen", is a melodramatic love story based on the novel "Carmen" and a remake of Raoul Walsh´s 1927 version directed by Charles Vidor and with the top-notch beauty of Rita Hayworth to give credibility to the plot. The unhappy ending is predictable even for those that watch "Carmen" for the first time. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Os Amores de Carmen" ("The Loves of Carmen")

A movie that far outdoes its meager reputation. It reunites Gilda's stars, Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, in a Spanish adventure based on the original novel Carmen, on which Bizet's opera is based. The story is extremely melodramatic, of course, but it's endlessly entertaining. Glenn Ford is pretty good as a nobleman who throws everything away for the love of his gypsy woman, Carmen. And Hayworth is as scorching as ever, even though her hair is brown. For those who love classic Hollywood opulence, this is definitely your movie. The film is in truly glorious Technicolor, some of the most beautiful cinematography of its era. The costumes, art direction, and music (none of it based on Bizet) are exceptional. The Loves of Carmen deserves better than it has gotten. 9/10.

Fresh on the heels of the mega hit Gilda and Rita going blonde in Then Lady from Shanghai producer Roy Cohn got his director (Charles Vidor) and stars (Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford) back in the studio with this high brow opera story minus the music from Carmen. Denied of its lifeblood it is a colorfully dull re-working of the hit with Rita as alluring as ever and Glenn, hair dyed and curled looking uncomfortable and foolish as a Spanish soldier.

Vidor's drab direction fails to create much spark as his leads fail to re-capture the chemistry of Gilda. Victor Jory as the sadistic bandit Garcia and Margaret Wycherly as Old Crone are notable but minus the music it remains a colorful balloon with no air in it.